Modern Games (Ire)

LEXINGTON, KY--This was a day that seemed to hang suspended, if not quite on a single hair of his tail, then certainly on the fate of a single horse. Even the gale that blew through the afternoon had a portentous quality, as though the very elements were anticipating some complementary melodrama of wind and fire from Flightline (Tapit). Yet history is often made not to a blaring fanfare but in quiet increments--and the 39 steps taken by the Breeders' Cup since its inauguration in 1984 here brought the Europeans to...

With unbeaten sensation Flightline (Tapit) leading the way, 205 horses, including 45 from overseas, and seven former or returning Breeders' Cup champions, have been pre-entered for the 39th Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland Nov. 4 & 5. The Breeders' Cup will be televised live domestically on NBC, Peacock, USA Network, and FanDuel TV. Click here to view all of the 2022 Breeders' Cup World Championships Pre-Entered Fields. Nine horses were pre-entered for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. In addition to the record-setting GI Pacific Classic winner Flightline, the $6-million...

One of last term's leading juveniles, Teme Valley and Ballylinch Stud's Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) took until Saturday to put it all together again as a 3-year-old and chose the big stage to do it on in Ascot's G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. He has now punched his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland in November, if connections wish to travel. Anchored in rear early by Tom Marquand after a tardy break, the 33-1 shot who had enjoyed a confidence-boosting success in Sandown's Listed Fortune...

Declarations for Saturday's Champions Day bonanza at Ascot were finalised Thursday morning, with no surprise defections from the main contests. Shadwell's hitherto undefeated Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will conclude his racing career in the £1.3-million Qipco Champion S. and faces off against last year's G1 Derby and G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S. hero Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Baaeed has drawn stall one, and Adayar stall six, in the day's feature event. Elsewhere on the £4-million card, Cheveley Park Stud's G1 Coronation S. and G1 Prix...

Godolphin's Breeders' Cup team from Charlie Appleby's Moulton Paddocks will be led by multiple Grade I winner Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Already successful at the Breeders' Cup with a score in the GI Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last November, the chestnut returned to Europe for his seasonal bow and claimed the G1 French 2000 Guineas at ParisLongchamp on May 15. Third in the G1 French Derby in June, Modern Games was fifth in the G1 Prix Jean Prat on July 10 and rebounded to take second behind Baaeed...

Twelve months on from the confirmation of his potency in the G3 Thoroughbred S. at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Shadwell's Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) returns to the famous Downs as a relative giant as he pursues ever higher ground in Wednesday's G1 Qatar Sussex S. at Goodwood. While his tally of four straight Group 1 wins--in the Prix du Moulin, the QEII, the Lockinge and Queen Anne--is highly commendable, it is still shy of the five achieved by the likes of Dubai Millennium (GB), Enable (GB), Giant's Causeway...

Delivering the potent acceleration that had seen her claim joint-champion status among the juvenile fillies in the G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket in September, TDN Rising Star Tenebrism (Caravaggio) was firmly in command under optimum conditions in Deauville's seven-furlong G1 Haras d'Etreham Prix Jean Prat on Sunday. Able to draft in mid-pack early, Ballydoyle's 13-2 shot who sports the Westerberg silks was unleashed between Lusail (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) and Rozgar (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) and after gaining the lead 100 metres from the line stayed on strongly to...

Things may not have clicked for 'TDN Rising Star' Tenebrism (Caravaggio) so far this season, but there is plenty of road left and Sunday's G1 Haras d'Etreham Prix Jean Prat at Deauville represents an opportunity for a clean slate over a seven-furlong trip that could prove her optimum. So impressive in the G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket in September, the daughter of Immortal Verse (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) who had one of her finest hours here in the G1 Prix Jacques le Marois put a disappointing effort in the 1000...

by Stefanie Grimm & Patrycja Szpyra With the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the rear-view mirror, the summer turf season kicks into high gear starting with a pair of Grade I's at Belmont Park Saturday. The home team takes on a new wave of European challengers in the 1 1/4-mile GI Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational S., the first leg of the Caesars Turf Triple Series. Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb), last seen finishing ninth behind longshot GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice), finally gets back...

One hundred years on from the late Aga Khan III's initial foray into European racing, the internationally-renowned and respected operation were celebrating a momentous Classic victory as the Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}--Vaderana {Fr}, by Monsun {Ger}) dominated Chantilly's G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club. Always travelling easily in the slipstream of the leaders from his favourable inside draw, the May 10 G3 Prix de Guiche winner pounced on the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) with 300 metres remaining and a furlong later...

The 2100-metre G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club has a horse for everyone, from multi-generational blue-blooded homebreds, to a $535,000 OBS breezer and everything in between. Godolphin's Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is aiming for his third Group/Grade 1 victory in a row after wins in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last autumn and in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains in May.   VADENI (FR), Churchill (Ire)--Vaderana (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) Owner: His Highness The Aga Khan. Breeder: Haras De S A Aga Khan SCEA. Trainer:...

While only Sea the Stars (Ire) has been able to win a 2000 Guineas and Derby in the same year since Nashwan did it in 1989, there have been four colts able to carry their superior miling speed over the 10 1/2-furlong trip of the new "French Derby" at Chantilly and complete the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains-G1 Prix du Jockey Club double. While the purists rave on without end about the fact that the initiative to shave the distance from a mile and a half means that the Qatar-sponsored...